In the New York Times<\/em> \u201cOp-Doc\u201d A Concerto Is a Conversation<\/em>, the audience has a seat in Horace Bowers\u2019 living room as he and his grandson, film composer and pianist Kris Bowers, share their extraordinary lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m very aware of the fact that I\u2019m a Black composer, and lately I\u2019ve been wondering whether I\u2019m supposed to be in the spaces I\u2019m in or supposed to have gotten to the point I\u2019ve gotten to,\u201d confides Kris, who\u2019s earned prominence with his scores for the Oscar-winning Green Book<\/em>, as well as Dear White People<\/em> and When They See Us<\/em>, among other projects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNever think that you\u2019re not supposed to be there because you wouldn\u2019t be there if you weren\u2019t supposed to be there,\u201d replies Horace, who left the Jim Crow South at his first opportunity and built success owning a Los Angeles dry cleaning business (on a block that, in 2019, the city named Bowers Retail Square). \u201cPeople are constantly throwing up things to stop you in life, but you\u2019ve got to know, \u2018You cannot stop me.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n This particular moment stands out to Executive Producer Jane Solomon \u201983: \u201cThe perseverance that Horace was talking about \u2026 I think that really resonated with a lot of people,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The film, which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, was an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at this year\u2019s Oscars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally, Solomon found some similarities in Kris\u2019 musical upbringing and her own. Kris and Solomon both started playing piano at an early age \u2014 4 and 5, respectively. They both grew up playing recitals, and they had the strong support of their families. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy mother was a musician; my grandfather was a big band leader in Milwaukee,\u201d she explains. \u201cSo, the whole thing really hit home for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her interests also conjoined recently when she was the music adviser on the 2020 movie Stage Mother<\/em>. But cinema is a relatively new undertaking for Solomon. It was actually a reconnection with fellow Colgate tennis player Rex Miller \u201984, now a director, producer, and cinematographer, that inspired her enthusiasm. She supported his documentary Private Violence<\/em> (2014) and coproduced another of his documentaries, Althea<\/em> (2014). In addition, Solomon started attending Sundance Film Festivals, and it all culminated in her \u201cwanting to support films that really impact people,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n An art history major, Solomon applied her visual background to her early career as a buyer at the May Company, working on product launches for brands like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Dior. Next, she became a project manager, starting with Avon and then joining an international gifts company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe art classes I took at Colgate helped train my eye as I look at the screen. It\u2019s interesting how it\u2019s all coming together now,\u201d Solomon says. She became involved with A Concerto Is a Conversation<\/em> as a member of Chicago Media Project, one of the documentary\u2019s production companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThese two men \u2026 had such passion and tenderness,\u201d she says. \u201cThis film captured that in 13 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jane Solomon \u201983 executive produces a 2021 Academy Award\u2013nominated documentary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":7101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[718,354,715,58,716,84,719],"coauthors":[388],"class_list":["post-7141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-endeavor","tag-academy-award","tag-alumni","tag-composer","tag-film","tag-movie","tag-music","tag-oscar"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-1Rb","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/05\/Concerto-still_1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7141"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7249,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7141\/revisions\/7249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7141"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}